Shanghaied
by Quid
Summary: The Warners are taken aboard a pirate ship! Destined to North Africa to complete a deal, the Warners must help the pirates. Or die. Deep sibling love and heartstopping twists and turns danger and adventure are all present.
1. Chapter 1

Shanghaied

Hi everyone! This will be my second piece of work and I'm going to try and work on it for a while. I don't own the animaniacs and all that. I'm trying a different writing style that I think will come in handy later, but its taking some getting used to. I also decided to tell it from different perspectives at different times. I would like to think I'm pretty good at writing adventure stories but that may all be in my head, so constructive criticism is welcome  Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it

Quid

Shanghaied

Enter: Dot

"Are we there yet?" Moans Wakko.

"Sure are. Cant you tell?" I gowls. All three of us are getting testy. We had spent the last four hours in a crate in the back of a truck on its way to Florida on our way to a 'big important party in which your presence is requested DON'T MESS THIS UP!!!' event, as described by Mr. Plotz.

"Voud you shush up back zair? Your giving me a headache!" Grumbles Dr. Scratchnsniff from the front passenger seat. Plotz is behind the wheel and Ralph is on the seat next to our crate.

"We will get there when we get there!" roars Plotz "We're on the coast now. If Mr. Allergic-to-anything-with-lactose-in-it hadn't thrown up his ice cream all over the upholstery you wouldn't be in the crate and you could see the beach." Yakko can feel me and Wakko's glares boring into his head in the darkness, I can tell. In fact, Plotz _had_ bought ice cream for Wakko and me, and frozen yogurt for Yakko. Unfortunately he had mixed them up and given Wakko the yogurt instead. I don't think he will ever get the smell of puked up ice cream out of his car.

"I have to potty!" Yells Wakko for the millionth time. Muttering a few oaths Plotz pulls into a gas station. Ralph grabbs a pry bar and went to work on the lid of the crate. I squints my eyes as light flooded the crate. Wakko jumps up and zooms for the bathroom. Yakko stretches his legs and arms. I look over at the beach. Its so beautiful! I hops up and walks over to the edge of the parking lot. _Would they kill me if I ran down there? Just for a little bit? _I wonder.

"Hey! Yakko!" I shout "I'm going down the beach real quick, want to come?"

"Sure!" He smiles and trots over to catch up with me because I'm already half way there. The sand feels hot under my bare feet and it smells like salt and washed up seaweed. Sunlight filters in through the clouds and there is a little breeze that ruffles the leaves of some palm trees and sends bits of dead palm leaves skittering across the sand. I take a deep breath and let it out.

"Peaceful, eh?" Says Yakko as he leans up against a palm tree.

"Yakko! Dot!" I turn around to see Wakko running after us. "Plotz is looking for you" He says when he gets here with a skid and a wave of sand. "He's real mad. Watcha looking at?" I follow his gaze to Yakko who is looking intently at the water.

"There's a spot on the water. Look, right there" He points and sure enough there is a dark smudge on the water. "It looks like a ship."

I watch the smudge for a few moments. Its getting bigger by the second.

"Looks like its coming this way." Says Wakko "What's a ship doing here anyway?" Yakko frowns.

"It shouldn't be coming this way. There isn't a port here."

But it is coming closer. Yakko clamps a hand down on Wakko and I's wrists and drags us behind a rock. A few moments pass before I can make out the details on the ship.

Its huge! It looks like an old Spanish Galleon with the masts and everything only its made out of metal. As it draws closer I can see its got a wooden deck though. And there are people running around on that deck. Yakkos grip on my shoulder tightens. The ship pulls in closer stops. A row boat is lowered over the side and I can see people in that too. We all hunker down low as they pull up to shore. There are three guys in the boat. One of them is wearing nothing but some swim drunks and has a hooked nose and shaved head. The other two are twins. Both are skinny, have red hair, and don't look like they've ever taken a bath. Ever. Their unloading something in metal barrels. I can hear them whispering things to each other.

"We should get outta here." Whispers Wakko. The guy in trunks looks up. My stomach drops to the center of the earth. The guy in trunks looks up _right towards us_.

"Hey!" He shouts. The twins look up. Before he can say another word a hand of iron clamps down on my arm and rips me off my feet. It takes me a moment to realize its Yakko running with me and Wakko in tow. My heart is pounding and my mind is racing. Suddenly, the sand beneath my feat isn't nice anymore. Its slowing me down. I can hear the men chasing after us. If we could just make it back to the gas station-

"Argh!" I skid to a halt and look back. One of the twins has got Wakko in a bear hug. Rage bubbles up inside me. I launch myself at the twin and clamped my teeth down on his shoulder. Suddenly, pain rips through my head.

I don't remember anything after that.


	2. Chapter 2

Enter: Wakko

The smelly black bag is pulled off my head and I'm blinded for a sec by the light. The deck of the ship swims into view. I look around for Yakko and Dot, and their right beside me. Both of them are looking around too, and I can see that they must have had bags over their heads too. There's a guy standing over me. I have no clue what's going on, but I don't like it.

"Whats going on?" I manage to choke out. God my head hurts…

"Welcome aboard kids." Says the guy standing in front of me. I try to look him in the eye, but he's standing with his back to the sun and the light makes my head hurt even more. I don't want to listen to him. I just want to go home!

"Why what's the matter with you? You are home!" He says. Oops. _Did I say that outloud?_ I look back up at him.

"Wha..?"

"Do you kids realize what kind of ship your on?"

"A smelly one?" Asks Yakko. The guy frowns and in a flash has Yakko by the neck.

"No. Try a pirate one. And from this moment on, it's also your home." He lets Yakko go. "See, you three have stumbled onto a little…eh….plan we have. And that plan is a secret. We can't have you blabbing it, can we? Of course not!" To hear him, you would think he was telling us everything was ok and that he was taking us home. My heads feeling a bit better and I take a look at him. He is kind of old. He looks like the guy on the canned salmon can, only he is wearing a suit. "No, you three will stay here on the ship where you can't blab a thing. You'll work here, too, you can be sure about that. My name is Captain Norman. Needless to say, I'm in charge." He looks over at a big guy who's standing behind him. "Take them below for right now." Norman says to him.

I still feel like I don't have a clue what's going on. My head still hurts. The big guy picks all three of us up and carries us to a door, down some stairs, and into a tiny wooden room. It smells down there. The throws us in the room and closes the door. The room goes pitch black and I can hear a key and lock scraping together. A split second later I hear a thud against the door as Dot throws herself against it.

"Let us out! You jackass! Let us OUT!!!" She screams. Good god she has a set of lungs! The sound of her screaming cuts into my head like a saw.

"Shut up!" I yell. I put my head in my hands. I want to go home…I want to go home…I want to go home…

Things are quiet for a while. After a bit I hear Dot start to cry. Theres a scraping sound as Yakko pulls her close and pulls me close too. I look where I think Yakkos face is. In the darkness, I cant really see a thing but I can tell what he looks like. He's in deep thought. _Maybe he can think of a way out of this…_

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know the door is being opened and I'm hauled to my feet. The pain in my head is gone now, and I take a look around. The interior is made of wood, and it reeks! The guy leading me and Yakko and Dot is the same one that threw us in the little room.

"Where are you taking us?" Asks Yakko. Dots clinging to him, and she looks terrified. It takes a lot to get her to look terrified. The guy just grunts in response. We go down a hallway and come to a door.

"Sir." Says the guy. He's got some sort of weird accent. He doesn't wait for an answer and opens the door. The room is huge and looks like something you would find in a castle. There's gold stuff everywhere and a big desk made of metal and glass. Captain Norman is sitting behind the desk, scribbling on a piece of paper. He looks up at us.

"Thank you, Foreman." He says to the guy that led us in. He grunts again and leaves, closing the door behind him.

"What are your names?" He asks, after a few minuets of silence.

"I'm Yakko." Says Yakko. He points to me, "That's Wakko." He points to Dot "And that's Dot." Norman Nods and writes more stuff down. My stomach growls. He looks up at me with a kind of curious look on his face and then goes back to writing. Its so quiet you can hear the big expensive grandfather clock ticking. It seems like hours before he finally does something. He gets up and straightens his tie.

"I was not lying;" he says "When I said you three would live and work on this ship. That room you were in will become your bedroom. Don't worry, we'll get a light and some cots in there." He turns to Yakko. "You seem like a smart guy. Lord knows you're a smartass…your going to be my assistant." He turns to me "I notice that your hungry. That's good. Your going to be the cooks assistant." He turns to Dot "Your not going to be anyone's assistant. I really didn't think we would have any use for you at all; your so damned small. But careful observation of the sailors has told me that your size would make you perfect for the ratlines. The lines going up the mast." He adds when he sees the confused look on her face. "I need you to sign these." He pushes some papers to us. I'm closest to the desk and he puts a pen in my hand.

"Don't!" Yells Yakko. He rips the pen out of my hand. "We're not serving on this ship! Take us home!" Norman looks at him for a moment before slapping Yakko across the face. Hard. My stomach lurches as I see it. Dot leaps at Norman, swearing and punching. I cant let her get hit too! I grab her out of the air and hold her down, but she puts of a fight.

"ENOUGH!" Roars Norman. Everyone stops moving. He goes behind his desk and pulls out a pistol. My stomach lurches again. I feel like I'm going to throw up. My heart starts going a mile a minuet as Norman points the gun at Yakkos head.

"Are you sure you don't want to sign? Because if you don't, we don't have any use for you. I'd have to kill all three of you." He says in a slow even tone. He means it.

Shaking, Yakko reaches for the papers and signs them with the pen that's still in his hand. Then Dot, who looks like a zombie now. Then me.

"Well then!" Smiles Norman. He gets on an intercom and says 'Scarab! Toulouse! Get in here!' and in a moment, two men are standing with us in the room. One is fat and smelly. Another one is skinny and smelly. The skinny one isn't wearing a shirt and he has some sort of bug tattooed on him. "Scarab" Norman points to the skinny one. "Take the little one. She's the new ratline girl." Dot shrinks away and tries to run but Scarab gets her by the nape of the neck and hauls her out. "Toulouse, take the one in the blue sweater. He's your assistant." The fat one turns toward me and looks at me for a sec. He nods and motions for me to follow.

He leads me down more stinky hallway and into a kitchen. It isn't so stinky in here. It smells good actually. He goes back to something in a pot and ignores me. All of a sudden it hits me.

Were on a pirate ship. With pirates. Who don't care if we live or die. And we might never see home again. I feel like I've been punched in the gut. My throat tightens up and tears start running down my face. The feeling in my stomach gets worse. What are Plotz and Scratchnsniff thinking now? Are they looking for us? Is Yakko ok? What about Dot, where is she? Maybe Norman is beating up Yakko again. Oh my god, this is for real! My entire body is trembling. I lean over and throw up.

"Hey!" Yells Toulouse but I don't hear him. I watch the puke splatter on the floor, then I sit back and cry. I cry for a real long time.


	3. Chapter 3

Enter: Yakko

"Now then" Says Norman, as he turns to me. "Yakko, is it? I hope you and I won't have any more problems. You seem like a good lad. File these for me." He shoves some papers in my hands. I look around and there's a filing cabinet in the corner. I look down at the papers; they're in some sort of different language. Russian, by the looks of it. Damn. I can't read Russian. I look over at the filing cabinet and start matching up the symbols heading up the paper. It's monotonous, and that's great. It gives me time to think.

We're ok. For the time being, _if_ Dot keeps her temper under control and Wakko doesn't eat all the cooks' food. What we need is a plan. And to get a plan, we need to know what's going on. I take another look at the papers I'm filing. I think its time I learn a third language…

"Hey…Norman…"I ask "When do we eat? I haven't eaten since yesterday. Well, I ate some ice cream today, but I threw it up, so id doesn't count. I'm allergic to anything that has lactose in it. Do you think I could run down and get a snack?" I want to talk to Wakko about this. Dot too, but I don't think I'll get a chance to talk to her. At least not until later. He looks up at me, and he seems kind of annoyed.

"You'll get a chance to see your brother later today, don't worry. Now _please _get those filed?" Damn this guy is smart! I go back to filing papers. I think its best to just do what he says for now. There isn't any use trying to do things to early and messing everything up. I look back down at they symbols on the page. How did I learn Japanese in the first place? I think back but I cant remember ever _not_ knowing it. Maybe I was born knowing. After all, I was pretty much born knowing how to talk. I take a look at the clock. 4:47.

Norman is English, you can tell by his accent. There is an English boom man in the studio. Name's Carl, I think. Anyhow, he always eats dinner at 5:30. I feel a bubble of hope in my chest. Maybe that's when English people like to eat dinner…


	4. Chapter 4

Enter: Dot

I sink my fist into Scarabs ribs one last time before I give up. I think I hear Norman telling Wakko he's going to help out the cook but I'm not sure about that because I was busy trying to beat up Scarab. He carries me up a flight of wooden stairs that look more like a ladder and through a door out onto the deck. There's a thud as my butt hits the deck when he drops me.

"Wait here." He says and walks off. To hell with that.

I run over to the side of the deck. Maybe we're still close to land! I'm a pretty good swimmer, I could swim over and call the police! I get to the wooden rail that's more like a rim around the boat and lift myself up so I can look out.

I think I can actually feel my hopes being smashed to bits. There's nothing out there. Nothing. Nothing but water and its everywhere. There aren't even any seagulls. It feels like someone's shoved a billiard ball down my throat. But no, I wont let them see me cry. I know it makes me look even cuter, but I don't think that will go very far here.

"Hey you! Spot!" Yells Scarab when he sees me. He's got some folded up fabric under his arm and some rope in his hand.

"Its DOT!" I yell back. He marches over and picks me up again. This time by my ears.

"Didn't I tell you to stay put?!"

"No. You told me to wait there. And I did. For about a second."

He growls and walks towards the mast. Like the exterior of the boat, its covered in metal. Both of them are, I realize as I notice another one. The masts have got to be at least a hundred and fifty feet high. There's bars going across each mast and net-looking things attached to those that go all the way to the top. I look up and I think I can see a sort of tub on the top of the highest mast. I've seen it in pirate movies before, its called a crows nest.

"See those lines?" He asks, pointing to the net-looking things. I say that I do. "Those are called ratlines. See that rope all the way at the top going between the masts?" I look and I think I can see a thin spider's line of discolored air between the masts. That must be the rope all the way up there. "We call that the Mason. Know why? Because Mason was the old ratliner. He died walking across that. Fell all the way down to the deck, and made a nasty sound. Your going to walk across that thing at least ten times a day." I don't know if he's kidding or telling the truth. Well, actually, I do. I'm just kind of hoping he's kidding.

"Your job, Speck, is going to be tying up all the sails and untying them. Your going to be the lookout and your going keeping everything in order up in the masts. Got that?" I nod. "Now. Your first job is real easy. All I need you to do is to put up the flag. Can you do that? Here's how you tie the knot to secure it." He ties a bit of rope into a knot. Its pretty simple. I get it on the second try. "Climb up to the very top of the main mast and put up this flag." He shoves the line and flag into my arms, grabs me again, and hurls me into the ratlines. I nearly fall over backwards, because I get my feet in them, but I've got the flag in my arms and can't grab on. I shove the flag into my mouth and grab the rope in front of me before I fall. _Good thing Wakko wasn't given this job,_ I think to myself _He'd probably eat the flag…_

Hand over hand, foot over foot, I start to climb. I wonder how Yakko and Wakko are doing. I hope Yakko's keeping his trap shut so that Norman wont hit him again. Wakko should be ok. The cook seemed kind of nice, really. Maybe Yakko's thinking of a way to get us out of this mess! I think he is. It would be just like Yakko.

My arms and legs are starting to ache and my hands and feet are starting to burn; the rope is rubbing them raw. I look up and feel my heart dive back down to the deck. I'm not even a fourth of the way there! Not even close! I look down and see that I've gone about twenty feet. I try to keep my mind off my body and keep climbing.

Yakko is smart. He'll think of a way out of this. In fact, I tell myself, we'll probably be home in our tower by this time tomorrow! I try to smile, but its hard because of the flag in my mouth. First thing I'm going to do is dive bomb onto my bed. My nice, comfortable bed. Wakko, Yakko, and I are probably the only cute and soft things on this entire smelly ship. No, I think to myself. First thing I should do is feed my pet. He gets awful mad when he doesn't get fed. Then I'll sit on the couch and read a magazine. Any magazine, and I don't care how old it is. Then I'll take a bubble bath. A nice long hot one. With strawberry bubble bath! And a face mask, and a pumice stone…

My arms and legs are burning. I twist around in the ratlines. They're in the shape of a net, and I'm small enough to fit in one of the holes. Sitting on the rope that makes up the bottom, holding onto the ropes on that make up the sides, and spitting the flag into my lap, it's actually kind of comfortable. I look out into the cool, clear ocean. A salt-smelling breeze ruffles my ears, and I wince as it hits the bottoms of my feet and the palms of my hands. They're completely raw now. They hurt really bad! And I know I'm only half way there now. I think back to early this morning in our crate in the back seat of Plotz's car. I had taken my gloves off and blown them up to make noise-makers. I didn't bother to put them back on when Wakko had his potty break. Now I wish I had.

When my arms and legs go from burning to just sore, I start climbing again. Each step is agony. If you had told me my hands and feet were on fire, I would have believed you. I turn my thoughts to Plotz and Scratchnsniff. I wonder what they're doing right now. I think of the search party that's probably out for us. _But they would never think to search this far out to sea…_ I think. I wonder what they think has happened to us. Its kind of depressing to think about, really. I look down at one of my poor hands. Its starting to bleed a bit. I bite down on the flag and press on.

Half an hour later, and I'm standing in the crows nest, using the knot Scarab taught me to tie up the flag. Its hard because my hands are dripping blood and so are my feet. Oh, god it hurts so bad! Tears are running down my face. It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts…

There. I've got the flag tied. There's not much of a breeze. It just kind of hangs there. Normally, that would probably make me mad. Climbing all the way up here just to have the flag lay there. But not now. My hands and feet are screaming and I just want to get down! I'm not even going to HAVE hands or feet by the time I get down! It feels like my fire-feet are walking through concrete as I swing a leg over the side of the crows nest and start climbing down. I would rather be anywhere but her. Right now, ripping myself to shreds. Blood from my hands starts to run down my arms. I cant take it anymore. I choke out a sob of pain. And then another. And another.

There's a splat when I hit the deck. I'm bawling now, but I don't care. It hurts so bad!

"Took you long enough." Says a voice above me. I look up and through my tears I see Scarab leaning against the rail, looking at me. How can he be so mean!? I keep on doing what I'm doing; crying. I look up a second later and he's gone. I don't care. He can go to Hell! I curl up into a ball. A tiny, bloody ball. Instead of its usual their usual white, my feet have turned red. My skirt's spattered with the stuff too. I sit up and put my back against the ratlines. I feel a bit better.

"Dot? DOT!" I hear someone cry from somewhere behind me. I smile for the first time in a long time. That someone has a Liverpool accent.


	5. Chapter 5

Enter: Wakko

I don't know how long I cried. A long time, I think. Toulouse picked me up and put me on a wooden chair and left me alone. He cleaned up my puke too, because when I stopped crying, it wasn't there. I hiccup and wipe my eyes.

"Feel better lad?" Asks Toulouse. He's still stirring stuff in a huge pot. Me, Yakko, and Dot could all fit in it easy.

"Yeah." I say. And I'm telling the truth. I do feel better.

"I'm sorry." Says Toulouse. "You kids shouldn't be mixed up in all this. You shouldn't even be on this ship." I get up off the chair and hop up on the counter next the stove with the pot on it. "Hell, I shouldn't be mixed up in all of this either. I signed on this ship as a cook. But they didn't tell me what _kind_ of ship this was until after I signed the contract. Stupid bastards. Don't ever let the captain hear you say that." He adds, looking over at me. I grin. Probably shouldn't let Yakko hear me say that either…

"How come this ship smells?" I ask him. He sighs and looks at me with a sort of sad look on his face.

"This ship has got a lot of history to it. First off, its really an old wooden ship, built in 1807. It belonged to Normans ancestors and it was sort of a family heirloom. Got passed down to him. Now, when he got this ship, he was dirt poor. He took out a bunch of loans to pay for this ship to be covered in metal, and outfitted with engines and motors. Not to mention electricity. But he still uses the old sails. Cuts back on the strain on the motors. Secondly, this ship was built as a slaver. It carried slaves from Africa to America a long time ago. It was horrible. Juts horrible. Those poor people were packed into the hold of this ship so tight they could hardly move. They didn't even have a place to go to the bathroom. Sometimes as many as half the people on the ship died on the way to America, and the bodies were just tossed overboard. Pirates wouldn't ever rob slavers, just because of the smell. I don't know how many times this ship has been washed over the centuries, and it still smells."

That hits me real hard. To think what I smell is death and sewage from two hundred years ago. I shudder. But even the thought of that can keep my mind of my stomach.

"What's in the pot?" I ask.

"Chili! And we've also got bread in the oven and some rice cooking. Go in the cabinet over there and get me some onion powder, will you?" I jump off the counter and do what he says. Its kind of fun, helping him out. I run and grab things for him, and check on the bread. While I do that, I tell him about Yakko, Dot and I. About our years on the streets, the TV show, and how we ended up on this ship. I'm kind of surprised I tell him all this, because I don't really talk that much. Yakko talks enough for all three of us. But I like Toulouse. When I'm done telling him about us, he tells me about him. Turns out he's always wanted to be a cook. But he never went to a fancy cooking school and couldn't get a job anywhere nice. The job on this ship is the first one that doesn't pay minimum wage.

Toulouse leans back.

"You want to talk to your brother and sister?" He smiles at me "I'll bet Norman wouldn't really mind. If you can remember the way to his office you can go down and ask of Yakko and come down to the kitchens. Its fine by me." I'm halfway to the door when he finishes talking. I haul ass to Normans office and knock on the door.

"Come in."

I open the door. Normans sitting behind his desk and Yakko sitting in a chair, zoning out. He snaps to attention when he sees me.

"Can Yakko come down to the kitchen? Toulouse says its ok." I ask. Norman looks and thinks for a second. Then he sighs.

"Alright. I ran out of stuff for him to file half an hour ago anyhow." Yakko's face breaks into a huge smile as he follows me out the door.

"Thanks Wakko!" He breathes as he stretches and follows me down the hall.

"Hey, Yakko! Want to know why this place smells?" I grin. Yakko looks a little green around the gills by the time we make it to the kitchen.

"That's Toulouse." I say, pointing to Toulouse. He smiles at Yakko.

"Wakko, your sister is out on deck somewhere; see if you can find her. Yakko, go grab me some salt." I grin. Yakko hates cooking.

I step out on deck. It feels real nice, since its pretty hot inside the kitchen and there's a nice cool breeze. There's a flag snapping at the top of one of the masts. I never noticed it before. It's a little hard to see all the way up there. I cant make out what kind of flag it is. _Those must be the ratlines_ I think to myself as I follow them all the way down to the ground with my eyes. My heart nearly stops when get down to the bottom.

"Dot? DOT!" I yell. She's covered in blood and looks like she's been crying. I nearly kill myself running over to her, tripping over everything and praying that she's alright. My hearts hammering harder than it ever has. When I get to her, she turns towards me and smiles. It's a pained halfway relieved smile.

"Dot what happened to you?!" I yell. I don't even know why I'm yelling. I sit down and pull her into my lap. Its her hands and feet that are bleeding. My chest tightens up and I'm trying not to cry. I cant stand seeing her hurt or sad. She's my little sister, you know?

"It's from the ropes. I put up the flag, see?" She says, and she points up. So that's why I didn't see the flag before. My heart starts to slow down a bit. Toulouse will know what to do, I bet. I try to clean some of the blood off her with my shirt as she tells me the details of her climb, and how far we're out to sea. I nod a few times. Toulouse said this boat was outfitted with engines and a motor. I can hear them from the kitchens. He says that because this boat is made out of wood, its pretty light and we can go really fast.

I pick her up and head towards the kitchens. _Man, Yakko's going to freak…_I think to myself. I was right, too. When I open the door I hear a huge crash. Yakko had been balancing on a chair, and balancing a spoon on his nose. Of course, when he saw me carrying Dot in, both of us all smeared with blood all that went out the window and he fell.

"Its from the ropes." Says Dot as I put her down on the table. I look down at my shirt. I hope they do laundry on this boat…

While Yakko freaks out, Toulouse takes a look at her hands and feet and tells me to get a wet rag and some bandages. I listen to Dot brag about how she put up the flag in what was probably record time as I get into the cabinets and root around for bandages. I think she's feeling better.

Once Dots all bandaged up Toulouse gets on an intercom and yells that its time for dinner. There's a bunch of tables and chairs in the kitchen, and its my job to get everyone a plate and serve everyone. Toulouse eats in his own room, and he says we're welcome to join him. But first I've got to serve the crew, he says. I watch them come in through the door. I see the goons that nabbed us back on shore. And there's the guy with the bug tattooed on him. Dot gives him a real nasty look from her spot on the counter. There's one guy with about a million earrings. There's even a really hot chick with black hair and a gun in her hand. I think the gun is the only thing keeping me and Yakko from jumping all over her. I even see one dude with a fake leg! After I serve everyone, without a single 'thank you' I might add, Yakko, Dot, Toulouse and me take our dinners to Toulouse's room. Yakko carries Dot in, even though she says she's perfectly capable of walking.

Toulouse tells us that he doesn't really know what's going on. Only a few crew members are kept in the loop. But he does know that we're going east. Probably to Africa. Yakko asked if anyone on board was Russian. Toulouse says that no, no one was unless you count the ships cat. It was a breed called a Russian blue. He got a pretty good laugh out of that. When we were done eating Toulouse went down into storage and found us all some clothes. Almost nothing was small enough to fit us, especially Dot. We found her some once-white-but-some-idiot-put-them-in-the-wash-with-the-reds-and-now-their-pink shorts and a white cloth sash to be used as a belt to hold them up. He also found her a white tank top and Yakko an over-sized white shirt so they wouldn't get all sunburned. He found me a blue turtle neck almost like the one I already have, except this one's clean.

After that it was time for bed; it was 11:00. Dinner was served at 10:00pm. At 9:00am I was in a crate in a car…


	6. Chapter 6

Enter: Yakko

Norman's good to his word, I'll give him that. When we went back to our room there was a bear light bulb hanging from the ceiling, a set of shelves brought in (for what? What have we got to put on the shelves?!) and three cots. Its been a long day. Just this morning we were in that car. Needless to say, we're all pretty tired. Actually, that would be an understatement. We're all so tired it hurts to keep our eyes open and our brains are shutting down while we stand. I take one cot and Wakko and Dot take the other two. Normans also had some sheets brought in. Their thread-bear and stained, but at least they're clean. I take a deep breath and wait for sleep to come.

But it wont.

"Wakko? You still awake?"

"Yeah."

"Dot?"

"Yeah, me too."

"How are your hands?"

"Fine."

"And your feet, too?"

"Fine, Wakko."

"Norman didn't hit you again, did he?"

"No. I think he's kind of like a rule book. He wont hit you without a reason."

snort

"Well, without what _he_ thinks is a reason."

"Toulouse says that if you stay out of his way he'll ignore you. But he knows everything that goes on on this boat."

"He must have a spy."

"Who do you think it is?"

"Maybe its that Scarab guy."

"I doubt it. He's too stupid."

"Maybe that's what he wants you to think."

"Maybe."

"Hey Yakko?"

"Yeah Dot?"

"Toulouse says the ships probably going to Africa."

"Yeah?"

"What's going to happen to us once it gets there?"

"…I don't know."

"I'll bet we'll be off the ship by then."

"I don't know, Wakko. We still need to figure out what's going on. But don't worry. We'll think of something. We can all use our jobs to our advantages. I can keep an eye on what's going on in Normans office. Wakko, you can talk to Toulouse, he's on our side, and he knows how the ship works. He'll be _our _spy. Dot can keep an eye on the crew. And what goes on around the ship. You never know, we might meet up with another ship, or stop on some island. Right Dot? Wakko?"

"Right."

"…"

"Wakko?"

"…Its my fault we're on this thing in the first place."

_Oh no…_

"I got caught by those goons and you and Dot came back to try and save me. Its all my fault. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be working as a secretary for a guy who would shoot you and not care and Dot wouldn't be hurt and we wouldn't even be here."

"Wakko-"

"Don't try to tell me its not true! It is and you know it!"

"…If it weren't for you I might still be laying out there under the ratlines. No one paid any attention to me."

_Nice save Dot_

"And if it weren't for you we wouldn't have Toulouse on our side." I add.

"Yeah. I guess your right." He admits after a few moments. I nearly jump out of my skin when I feel something touch me, thinking it was a rat, but it was only Wakko.

"It just doesn't feel like it…" He says, using my stomach as a pillow. In a second he's asleep. In another second, I am too, and I don't even feel Dot climb in and curl up beside me.


	7. Chapter 7

Enter: Dot

I don't know what wakes me up. I think it was probably a rat or something. You know, you read all these stories were something like this happens to a person, and they wake up and for a second, they don't know where they are. That's crap. I knew where I was before I even opened my eyes. I could feel the rocking of the ship, and smell the odd combination of soap, chili, and slight B.O (Wakko and Yakko) and I could hear the creek of the ships wood. I can even hear Yakko breathing because I've got my ears crunched against his chest. We may be small, but so is the cot, and its not made for three kids. Or whatever we are. Yakko's in the middle with Wakko scrunched up beside him, using his gut as a pillow. Yakko's got his arm around me, and I'm pretty using him as a pillow too. Being the smallest does have its advantages. Who needs a bed when you've got your brothers chest? I grin to myself. _Fifteen men on a dead mans chest…yo ho ho-_

"WAKE UP EVERYONE!" Roars Norman over the loudspeakers. I feel Yakko and Wakko stir. I get up and immediately wish I hadn't. My entire body hurts! My arms and legs especially are made of lead. Dead lead weight. I try to wiggle my fingers but I cant. The not-skin on my hands doesn't like it and instead of stretching and scrunching like normal skin and cracks and breaks open under the bandages.

Wakko sits up and looks around for his hat, which fell of sometime while he was sleeping. Everyone says he looks the same as Yakko without it, but they still look really different to me. Yakko stretches and rubs his face.

"Go with Wakko down to the kitchens before you go outside to Scarab, I think Toulouse will want to re-bandage your hands." Says Yakko, getting up and opening the door. He sticks his head out.

"Wot you lugin at?" Says a voice from the hallway.

"Where to begin?" Says Yakko "There's the mole on your chin, the scar on your second chin, the greasy comb-over, the-"

Yakko barely shuts the door in time. Boys…


	8. Chapter 8

Enter: Yakko

Morning comes all too soon. I sit up and Dot rolls off my chest. She's pretty sore, but she'll live. I rub my face.

"Go with Wakko down to the kitchens before you go outside to Scarab, I think Toulouse will want to re-bandage your hands." I say to her. I walk over and open the door to the hallway. Now, if I were a cat, where would I b-

"Wot you lugin at?" Says some butt-ugly guy. But I'm glad to see him. Well, not him, really. The cat around his shoulders. Its fur does have a bluish tint to it. Its almost as butt-ugly as the guy though. Its got two golden eyes, but one of them is clouded over and there's a scar running over it. Its got chunks of ear missing, a broken tooth and a long jagged scar running down its back. So that's who the kitty belongs to…that's all I need.

"Where to begin?" Says Yakko "There's the mole on your chin, the scar on your second chin, the greasy comb-over, the-"

I barely close the door in time. I see Dot roll her eyes. After making sure the coast is clear we go out and follow everyone else. Their heading to the kitchens.

Unlike last night at dinner, no one sits down to eat. They all grab a mug of what Toulouse is handing out to them, a couple of biscuits and go off on their separate ways. When I make my way up to Toulouse he grins a sneaky little grin and shoves a mug into my hands. I look down. Smells like coffee. I've never drank the stuff before. I look back up to Toulouse. I can tell by the look on his face he's daring me to drink it. I look back at the black sludge in the mug. Well, I never minded the smell. How bad can the taste be? I take a big gulp.

_Bad_

There are a number of colorful adjectives I could use to describe the stuff, and I think I do (I don't remember) as I spit it out all over the place. My cheeks burn bright red as I hear the hearty laughter of everyone in the kitchen. Still blushing I put the mug down on the counter and take the glass of water handed to me by Toulouse.

He waits until everyone else has gone before he gives us our biscuits, along with some jelly to go with them. Toulouse leaves us to scarf down our breakfast while he goes off to find some clean bandages for Dot. _I wonder how she's going to climb the rigging_ I wonder to myself. I look up at her. She's finished her breakfast and is eyeing the mug of coffee I put down on the counter. She picks it up and gingerly gives it a sip. Then, to my astonishment, she turns the mug bottoms up and chugs the whole thing in about two gulps.

"Wha..?" Says Wakko beside me.

"What's your problem, Yakko? This stuff's not bad!" She smiles.

I loose it completely and nearly barf up my breakfast laughing. In the midst of all my laughter, A tiny thought crosses my mind. _I wonder what Dots like hyped up on coffe…_

After breakfast I leave Dot to get fixed up and Wakko to his duties. Norman is typing away on a (really nice) laptop today.

"Start filing. You've got a lot to do today." He says without even looking up. Oh joy. I grab the pile of papers off his desk.

Дорогой Г-н Нормандск ваш конец дела. Я держал вверх по моим. Dont думает вы может я, ваш тот я решаю если вы живете или умирает. О к Algiers в пределах месяца или вещам пойдет плох для вас. Я нахожусь в красной ноче.

Right…

"Hey, Norman?" I ask as innocently as I can. This guy is smart. And I hate to admit it, but I'm not smarter than him. But I can be dumber…

"Yes…?"

"Did you know there was a cat on the ship?"

"Yes. Its to eat the rats."

"It looks pretty old. Thinking of trading it in for a new model?"

"Why? Do you have one in your back pocket?"

"No. It's a Russian blue, the cat is."

"And this means what?"

"They live a long time. No way I would store one in my back pocket!"

"That's rubbish. Pipe down and do your work!"

"But the cat hasn't been on the ship forever. Its got scars from fighting other cats, and he's the only one here."

"Yes, the cat belongs to a crew member." Norman seems to be getting really annoyed. Better play this safe…

"So is that crew member Russian too?"

"Yes, I believe so. Now shut up before I have you thrown overboard!" I shut up. He means it.

_So, now we have someone that can probably read Russian…all I need to do is get close to him._


	9. Chapter 9

Enter: Dot

I'm sitting in the rigging again. My hands and feet still hurt, but not nearly as bad as they did yesterday. And once I actually got moving, I wasn't as sore. Its nice, really. Up here. You can smell the sea, and see for miles and miles. The only bad part, is that a what feels like a small rock of the ship from the deck, is five feet forward and back from up here. But once you get used to it, it isn't so bad. I reach up and tighten the flower scrunchie around my ears. I wish I had a mirror, but I haven't even seen one on this ship! Who can live without one? Maybe if they got one the crew wouldn't be so ugly. Or smelly. See? Everyone wins!

"_See the pyramids around the Nile  
Watch the sun rise  
From the tropic isle  
Just remember darling  
All the while  
You belong to me…"_

I sing. It seems like the right song to sing right now. I've always loved the song, its so beautiful and sad.

"_See the market place  
In old Algiers  
Send me photographs and souvenirs  
Just remember  
When a dream appears  
You belong to me…"_

It occurs to me that I might see the market place in old Algiers. Wherever that is, I know Algeria is in North Africa. And so is Egypt and that's where the Nile is. I feel hot anger bubble up inside me. I hate not knowing what's going on. I hate feeling so helpless! Forget that, I hate _being_ so helpless! And that's what I am right now! My grip tightens on the ropes and my jaw clenches. _I'm not just some girl you can toss aboard a ship and have that be that. Your going to be sorry you ever messed with me, Norman!!!_

Argh! I'm so angry I feel like could expl-

"_bang"_

From far down on the deck I hear a tiny bang. I look down and there's a crowd down there. Grabbing a hold of the rigging I make my way down as fast as possible.


	10. Chapter 10

Authors note:

Hey everyone, its me. I'd like to note just a few things. First off, my Russian sucks. So if your fluent, please spare me a lecture on my horrible Russian: ) Second of all, Wakkos reaction to big events is based on the cartoon, where he does a lot with his stomach. (he eats a lot, ect.) in case your wondering why he pukes all the time. Thanks for the great reviews!

Enter: Wakko

The light stings my eyes for just a second when I step out of the kitchen. I never really think the kitchen's that dark until I'm out of it, you know? I've got a bag in my hand, and in that bag is chocolate. Its not for me, though. (Toulouse did give me some of my own before I left.) Its for the chick with the black hair and the gun that I saw yesterday. I asked Toulouse if she was his girlfriend, and then he started laughing and I was scared he would die. He turned all blue and everything! He told me that first of all, she wasn't anyone's girlfriend. Second of all, she pays him extra to make a batch of chocolate once a month or so. I asked him why, but he said I'd find out when I'm older. Maybe Yakko knows…

Toulouse told me where to find her. She'd be in her room. I walk through the belly of the boat, and try to ignore the smell because it still gives me the willies, knowing what that smell _is_. I find a door that has a couple of bullet holes in it. That's the one. I knock.

"Who is it?!"

"Wakko. Uh, I have some chocolate for you from Toulouse." There's some shushed voices and the sound of papers rustling.

"Come back later!" I decide to do what she says. I go out on deck. I'm looking around for Dot, when I see the guy with about a thousand earrings all over his face. He's kind of old. Fifty at the youngest, but he's got real bright eyes. He's sitting on a wooden crate with a mirror on his knees. He's got a bottle of beer, a needle, and more gold-hoop earrings on the crate he's sitting on. I watch as he dips the needle in the beer, carefully attaches an earring to it somehow, and positions it about a half inch above his lower lip. Then, almost too fast for me to see, he stabs the needle through and closes up the earring. He sits back and admires his handy work. After a second, he starts looking at his face, probably trying to find a new spot to pierce. He spots me looking at him.

"Want one?" he grins. "It don't hurt. I've done all of these myself, your safe with me." Of course, I know what I _should_ have done. I _should_ have just walked away. But the thing is, Yakko, Dot, and me; what we _should_ do and what we _do_ are two very different things.

I trot over and stand in front of him.

"Are you sure it doesn't hurt?" I ask, suddenly starting to regret my decision a little.

"I swear by the hair on my chiny-chin-chin!" He says smiling. I look at his chin. There's no hair there at all. He grabs hold of one of my ears and looks at it for a second. Then he chooses a ring and puts it in his teeth. He grabs the needle, dips it in the beer and attaches the ring. My stomach lurches.

"Ready?" He asks. I swallow real heard.

"…yeah." I choke out. There's a burning flash of pain, and then it's gone, as quickly as if came. "Was that it?" I ask.

"Sure was." Says the guy. "Take a look!" He holds up the mirror in front of me. Sure enough, there's a little gold hoop in my left ear. And it looks really cool! The guy laughs and tells me to get on my way, and get my tongue back in my mouth before he pierces that too.

I head back down bellow, grinning to myself, and wish there were mirrors around here so I could take another look. I get back to the door, but find that its wide open, and no one's inside.

There's a bed. A nice one, a wardrobe, a table, and a bookshelf; which is empty. I decide to just leave the chocolate there and I put it down on the table. I'm about to go when something catches my eye. On the table, there's blueprints. And they look like blueprints of this ship. I hop up on the table and take a look. They're all marked up with some sort of weird symbols. I look at the prints for a while and find our room. There's marks next to our room too:

Комната Малышей:

препятствовало им знать что-нибыдь

"..and don't think that just because Normans all cooped up in his office he doesn't hear what's going on. He's got a spy and I want to know who it is!" Says a voice from right down the hallway. And that voice belongs to gun chick! My heat jumps into my throat and I panic. I dive under the table just before people enter the room.

"Do you think its Scarab?"

"No. He's too stupid."

"I'm telling you, its Raj. I've seen the little bastard listening in to everyone's conversations. He knows English. Don't think he doesn't." There's a scarping of chairs and three sets of feet threaten to give away my position. There's a pair of high heeled black boots that I think belong to gun chick. There's a pair of bare feet and a pair of brown leather work boots.

"What about the kids?" Says Bare Feet.

"What about them?" Growls Gun Chick. I hear the rustle of the paper bag and hear her munching on the chocolate.

"They're scared stiff of Norman. I'll bet they become his spies in less than a week." Says Bare Feet.

"Well. We dock in Algeria in two weeks. They shouldn't be too much use to him if they're only his spies for a week." Says Work Boots.

"Just keep them out of the store room. We don't want them knowing about the powder. I don't care if they find out about Normans' gold." Grumbles Gun Chick. There's a silence.

"…Liz…?" Says Work Boots. He sounds real unsure of something.

"What."

"About the kids. Are…are they going to be on the ship with the rest of the crew when we blow it up?" I nearly fall over backwards, or puke, or gasp, or do all three. _WHAT?!_

"No. They're going to be flying overhead singing Take Me out to the Ball Game. Of course their going to be on the ship you idiot! Where else would they be!?" Yells Gun Chick. My hearts pounding.

"Oh." Says Work Boots. He doesn't sound too happy. He doesn't sound like he's going to say anything else, either.

"Come on. I want another glass of rum." Says Bare Feet. There's another scarping of chairs, the sound of foot steps, and I'm all alone. But I don't move. At least not until I can feel my limbs again. Then I bolt out the door. I'm standing in the hallway, trying to catch my breath when I see three sets of legs. I look up and see three faces. One of them belongs to Gun Chick. The other two belong to Work Boots and Bare Feet. Work Boots is old, but Bare Feet cant be more than 19. He glares at me.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" He leers.

"I…I…I swallowed something." I say. Knowing me, it's a pretty good excuse. But his expression doesn't change.

"What did you hear?" He asks in a real even tone. I look up at him all confused.

"What…? I swallowed a marble and I thought I was choking for a sec. What did I hear of what?" He narrows his eyes. I swallow. He has a gun in his hand.

"Leave him alone Tom…" Sighs Gun Chick. She and Work Boots believe me. Tom doesn't let up.

"_What did you hear?_" He says again. He's raising the hand with the gun in it.

I bolt.

I make it out on deck when I hear a BANG and a small ting and also a thud. It takes me a split second to realize that Tom shot at me and the bullet nicked my earring!

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" Its Norman. I turn around to see Tom pointing a gun right my head. Yakko is at Normans side, looking real pale and kind of sick.

"This runt has been into things he shouldn't." Says Tom. He doesn't lower the gun.

"Tom you will put that gun down or be shot yourself!" Roars Norman. Tom Doesn't move. Instead he laughs. I think I'm gonna puke…

"You're the Captain. If you shoot one of your crew its taps for you." Norman's face doesn't change. Instead, he brings a gun out of his pocket, and without taking his eyes off Tom, passes it to Yakko. Yakko takes it looks at it as if its some sort of poisonous snake being pressed into his hand. Then, he gets a grip on it, and with his arm shaking, points it at Tom. Tom doesn't stop grinning, or pointing the gun at my head. My legs are shaking real bad and my hearts pounding and I feel sick and I don't know how much longer its going to be before I faint or puke or scream…

"That little bastard couldn't hit me if he tried!" He crows. He squints his eyes and I see his fingers start to tighten. I shut my eyes. _Yakko, keep taking good care of Dot, and Dot keep looking out for Yakko. I love you both so much, and-_

WACK!

There's a gasp.

I open my eyes to see Tom unconscious and laying on the deck with a huge coil of rope on top of him. Then, I hear laughter. Girlish laughter. Directly above me. I look up to see Dot sitting on a big wooden beam that goes across the mast, laughing her head off.

"Mmmph…" Says Tom. _Oh no!_ He gets up and looks around. He looks up and gets a facefull of gun barrel from Yakko, who isn't looking so scared now.

"Tom." Says Norman, walking around him. "If we have another outburst like this, you can be sure it will be your last. That is all." He nods to Yakko, who takes the gun out of Toms face. "Toulouse." Says Norman "Please show Tom below deck." Toulouse grins a real horrible grin and picks Tom up. With a huge roar Toulouse throws Tom all the way through the (open) door to the lower deck. It's a few seconds before I hear a thud.

"That is all." Says Norman, dismisses us all. He goes down below deck and I go straight to the side of the boat. My legs are shaking again, and I cant keep my breakfast down anylonger…


	11. Chapter 11

Enter: Yakko

The crowd starts to disperse and Norman takes the gun out of my hand. I see Wakko make a break for the side of the ship and in another second hear him gag. On legs made of jelly I walk over to him.

"You ok?" I ask. He wipes him mouth on his sleeve and nods.

"Yakko, I gotta tell you something!" He says.

"Later." I tell him. There are still some people milling about, and a few are watching us. He nods, but doesn't say anything. Instead he leans over and sends more of his breakfast to the ocean below us. I put a hand on his shoulder and resist the urge to join him. It takes me a moment to realize that Dot's standing behind me. I didn't even hear her walk up. She looks like she doesn't know weather to kill half the people on the ship or cry. I decide not to say anything; the side that wants to kill half the people on the ship looks like its winning.

"Don't worry too much on Tom. Norman will be keeping a close eye on him now." Says Toulouse, who walks over to us. He just about puts a hand on Dot's head, but takes one look at her and thinks better of it.

"Yakko…really…I've got to tell you something!" Says Wakko, wiping his mouth again.

"Come down into the kitchen then." Says Toulouse. I lead Wakko down below, but then I remember something. I look back to see if Dot's followed us, and she hasn't. She's still back there. But now she's looking at the rigging with a curious look on her face. She nods to herself a few times and jogs over to me and Wakko. I'll ask her about it later.

Down in the kitchen Wakko tells us everything. This isn't good. I decide that we've got to find out more. Toulouse doesn't say much, because he's busy fixing dinner and setting it all out. He doesn't make the still-rattled Wakko do it. None of us feel like eating. We go straight to our room and pile in the same cot.

"Things aren't so bad now." I tell Wakko and Dot. Wakko's still clinging to me, but Dot is oddly silent. I take a look at her and she's looking up at the ceiling, in deep thought.

"At least now we know part of what's going on." I say. "We know that we are going to Algeria. We know that those three are planning to blow up the ship. We know Norman has gold on the ship. We know that there is some sort of powder on the ship." I feel better being able to say it all. To have it all right there in front of me. Now I cant start devising a plan.

Just before I fall asleep, I've got the beginnings of one. We find the gold, and know where it is. Then once we dock in Algeria, we take as much as we can carry, escape the boat before it blows up, and use the gold to pay our way back to America. I sigh. I like having a plan.

Even if it is a crappy one.


	12. Chapter 12

Enter: Dot

Its not a nice day today. The sky is a slate gray, the water is green and choppy, and its raining. The ratlines are slimy, the deck is slimy, and so are the ropes used to tie down the sails. Its dangerous. The wooden beams are slimy too, and one slip means one hundred and fifty feet of air between me and the deck. It's a ratliners worst nightmare. But its no problem for me.

I'm not in the ratlines.

No, instead I'm below deck, exploring on tiptoe. I'm not even daring to breathe loudly. I'm looking for something. For what, exactly, I don't know. Some sort of powder. Yakko had told us last night to stay low. And I am. See how low I'm crouching? I open a door. Storage closet. Yakko's 'laying things out' last night really opened up my eyes to what's going on. We've only got two weeks to get a plan, and get our furry asses off the ship. Another door-bathroom. And when we do, we will be in Africa, a million miles from Warner Brothers studios. A tiny dark cloud crosses over my mind and stops me in my tracks. _Millions of miles from home…oh I want to go home…I want my bed, I want Ralph to chase me…I want to go home so bad…_

I actually shake my head to banish the thoughts. I cant sink into a pity party now! I try another door. And this one's locked. It's the only locked door I've come across all day. I lay down on the ground and try to see through the crack under the door. Nothing. But I do smell something…it reminds me of the fourth of July. After Yakko Wakko and I light the fireworks there's a smoky smell. It must be some sort of gun powder.

My heart catches in my throat

Gun _powder_

I sit back and try to get my bearings. After a few minuets I figure out that the room with the gun powder in it is directly below Wakko Yakko and I's room. _Hmmm…_

_Ka-thap_

_Ka-thap_

_Ka-thap_

_Oh god! Footprints!_ My heart starts to race. If I make it out of this alive Yakko's going to kill me! I look around wildly. There isn't a place to hide, but its dark. So is my fur. I rip off my bright white tank top hid it behind me, and press myself up against the wall. I cover the white fur on my face with my hands.

_Ka-thap_

_Ka-thap_

_Ka-tha-THUD_

_"Ouch! Mother fucker!"_

_ting-king-ling_

_tock_

_squeeeee_

I hear the door open and someone go inside. I gather up all my will power and poke my head inside. The room is the same size and shape of our room, and is decorated with about fifty white sacks. Tom is standing in the middle of the room, and he looks like he is unloading something out of his pockets. He is turned around and cant see me. I hear him mutter, and take something else out of his pocket. There's a little click, and the room is flooded with light. He aims the flashlight at the stuff he got out of his pockets, and I can see its string of some sort. I swallow real hard. If he turns around with that thing on, he's going to see me for sure! Without thinking I tiptoe into the room behind him and hide behind one of the sacks. Being so small isn't just cute, its handy too…

After a hart pounding few moments, he turns and leaves. The room is plunged into total darkness. Then I realize how stupid I am. He leaves and locks the door behind him!

What am I going to do?! I get up and try the door, but it wont budge. If they find me in here….!

I sit in the room and take some nice big gulps of air. A few minuets go by. My eyes start to adjust. I can see a faint shaft of light coming from the ceiling. Standing on a couple of the white bags I can see a little knot hole in a wooden board of the ceiling. That same wooden board is a floor board in our room. _Hmmm…_

Gathering a bunch of bags, and make a tall, shaky tower to stand on. Up there, I can reach my fingers up through the knothole. I can even see our room if I put my eye on it. Then, the bags start to sway a little too much under my feet. Instinctively I grab on to the knothole and hang on as the bags topple to the floor. _Phew_ that was close, I near-

_Crack_

_Uh oh…_

_**CRACK!!!**_

****Part of the board gives way. It looks like I'm hanging on the tip of a little diving board! I swing my feet, and get them through the little hole formed by all this, then twist around and push myself up so that I'm standing in the middle of our room. Without my weight on the end of it, the board bounces back in place and you could never tell anything was amiss. I'm about to go tell Wakko when I hear someone shout at me from the deck.

"SPOT!" That would be Scarab…

Dragging my feet I head back up on deck. Scarab is there looking real mad.

"Get up there and tie up that damned sail!" I look up. Things have worsened up here. The wind has picked up and a sail has come loose. Its flapping around and if it flaps too much, it will knock me off and I'll fall. I gulp.

But I surprise myself. I get it tied down no problem. I must be a better sailor than I thought. I hear Toulouse yelling over the intercom, and its time for luch.


	13. Chapter 13

Enter: Yakko

Toulouse's lunch call over the intercom jerked me out of my sleep. Unfortunatly it also jerked me out of the chair I was sitting in and onto the floor. Or, more specifically, my face. I hear Norman chuckle to himself. _Jerk…_

Stretching I lumber out the door. Norman never joins the crew for lunch, he eats in his office. Being his assistant is one of the most boring things in the world. All I do is file things, sort things, and fall asleep in my chair. Fun fun fun! But its not all bad. It gives me time to think, and because of my superior powers of reasoning, I know that we'll find out who Normans spy is today. All we have to do is see who is keeping an unusually close eye on Tom.

Today's lunch is ham sandwiches. I wonder if Toulouse is getting lazy or running out of food… I find Dot sitting on the counter (where Wakko her and I usually have lunch and breakfast) and join her. As soon as she sees me her eyes light up. What has she gotten into…

"Here" Says Wakko handing each of us a sandwich. He hops up beside Dot and eats his own sandwich in two bites.

"Hey guys…?" Says Dot in her 'innocent' voice. "Have you ever noticed the woodwork in our room? Its really nice!" _Uh…_ "Come on! I'll show you!" She hops up and motions for us to fallow her. Turning to Wakko and shrugging we follow her out. As soon as we're in our room Dot's face breaks into a huge grin. I can see where this is going.

"Dot! I told you to stay low!" I growl. Dot raises an eyebrow.

"Did I get caught?" I don't have time for this…

"Dot, I know you want to help, but right now there's not much to do! Come on, do you _want_ to get your head blown off? If you do you can be sure you'll never see home again." Her face falls a bit.

"…ok. Yeah, I guess your right. But can I at least show you what I found?" She asked. I do have to admit, she is absolutely adorable, with her face all hopeful. I cant say no.

"Fine." She grins and walks over to a little knothole in the floor. She gets down on her hands and knees, and pushes on it. Part of the board gives way and there's a space just large enough for her to fit through. My jaw drops.

"Dot, how did you…"

"Faboo!"

"Hold on a sec." And she disappears into the darkness with a small _thump_. A few moments go by, and then-

"Wakko, Yakko, come here!" Squeezing together Wakko and I can both look down into the space below. She's in a room identical to ours, and covered with white bags. She looks up, her face bright and smiling. The smell of gunpowder wafts up.

"You've found the powder!" Exclaims Wakko.

"And there's something else here too. Tom was in here getting some string out of his pockets.

"What kind of st-_Tom was in there?!_" Good god she's going to get herself killed! Does she have any clue what he could do?! Dot sees the look on my face and backs away, even though there's no way I could fit through there to throttle her even if I wanted to. Let me rephrase that. Even though I want to.

"Can you pass up some of the string?" Asks Wakko.

"Sure!" She squeaks and disappears out of sight. A second later she reappears and stacks a few of the bag on top of each other. She reaches up and I reach down. My arm is just long enough for me to reach the string. I pull it up and take a look. It isn't string at all.

"This is a fuse!" I exclaim. So _that's_ how their going to blow up the ship. Pounds and pounds of gunpowder!

"Here." I reach down and she grabs my hand and I pull her out. The board slips back into place. Looking closely, I can see where its broken, but no one would notice it if they didn't know what they were looking for. I turn to Dot and put on me best I-know-I'm-your-brother-but-I'm-your-gaurdian-too-and-I've-taken-care-of-you-since-you-were-in-diapers voice.

"Dot you cant snoop around! Do you know what would have happened to you if Tom had turned around? Don't to this to me! You know it would kill me if anything happened to you! And besides, if they catch you our plan is up in smoke."

"Fine…" Mumbles Dot. I don't know if its sincere or not, but it will have to do. We've all got to go back to our jobs.


	14. Chapter 14

Authors Note: Just read it, it will make sense at the end, I promise!

Enter: Wakko

The rest of the day goes by pretty quickly. I'm still thinking about the explosives, and our plan. At the end of the day, Yakko, Dot, and I pile into the same cot. We've gotten into the habit of doing that, even though there are three cots. I suppose it would just be too scary, being all alone at night. That's when it really hits you, you know. Our situation. You can really feel the weight of it on you. And you think of home, all the people you usually hate but would love to see right now. You think of all your stuff, and your own bed. At least this way we can hold on to the only things we have, and that's each other.

Yakko pulls the sheets over us, and I lay down and pretty soon I'm asleep.

I'm awakened with a loud BANG. That's our door flying open, and Norman is standing there. Norman and Tom. They don't look so happy.

"What's all this I hear about gunpowder?" Asks Norman. I sit up and rub my eyes.

"That little rat was snooping around!" Yells Tom, pointing at Mary.

"Mary, is this true?" Asks Norman.

"Y-yes daddy. Daddy, I-I'm sorry!" Gasps Mary, her voice starting to crack.

"Take her on deck!" Roars Norman. Tom comes in a grabs Mary by the arm and roughly drags her out. Yakko, Dot, and I run after her. On deck there is a noose hanging from one of those boards that goes across the mast and a chair hanging from under that. Someone gasps in my ear, but I look around and no ones there. Weird.

"Mary, be a good girl and get up on the chair." Says Norman. Mary is crying now, and she climbs up on the chair. Tom puts the noose around her neck. My stomach flipflops. "Mary Norman you are herby sentenced to hang on account of being a very very bad girl, along with snooping, spying, and being a liability." I'm shaking. Norman wouldn't really hang her would he? No! He cant!

Tom kicks the chair out from under Mary.

"NO!" I yell.

"Wakko! Shhh! Wake up! You were dreaming!" _Huh?_

I'm in my bed and Yakko has his hand clamped over my mouth. My heart rate starts going back to something close to normal.

"I was having this crazy dream! There was this girl called Mary and-"

"Shh! We know!" Hisses Dot.

"But-"

"Sh!" Hisses Yakko. I shush.

"_Oh, Norman, you didn't really?"_

_"Of course I did. And be sure, I've never looked back on it."_

There are voices from right outside our door. One of them is Normans, and I realize that I had been dreaming every word he was saying. A cold pit forms in my stomach. Yakko is sweating and Dot is visibly shaking.

_"The poor little thing. She was always a slight girl. When Tom kicked the chair out from under her, it wasn't the end of it. Her weight wasn't enough to break her neck. Oh, how she danced. Much better than she ever did in ballet class."_

_laughter_

_"It took a full five minuets for her to smother…"_

I hear them walk away. We get real quiet after that. There isn't much to say, we lay back, but we don't sleep. Two hours later Norman-the-man-who-murdered-his-own-daughter-'s voice roars over the intercom. Yakko still looks pale; he has to work in Norman's office. I retreat to Toulouse's kitchen and tell him everything. He doesn't say anything for a while.

"Wakko, if he ever tries to do anything like that to you, your sister, or your brother, I'll kill him. I'll kill the old bastard." His face looks like a statue when he says that, and I know he means it.

"I know Toulouse. Thanks." I say. And I mean it too. I tell Toulouse about the powder room, and that gets him thinking.

"Wakko…" He says at length. "I know where Norman keeps his gold. I heard Liz talking about it. But there's no way you can get to it. Its in a secret room attached to Normans office. He stores everything important to him there. The gold, photos of his family. Everything. It only opens with his fingerprint on a secret panel. I'll do whatever I can to help, Wakko."

I sit back and think. I'm really not good at planning. That's Yakko's job. I look at Toulouse, and he looks troubled. He sees me looking at him, and sighs.

"Wakko, I also heard Liz talking about a little girls body in there. I think it might be Mary's." I swallow real hard.

"I've got to get Yakko out of his office!" I yell and make a break for the door. Toulouse moves to stop me, but I'm too fast. I'm down the hall and knocking on Normans door before he could even turn around.

"Captain Norman, sir?" I call. My legs are shaking. "Uh-Toulouse wants to see Yakko. He-he wants Yakko to try something to see if he can eat it because Yakko's allergic to lactose. Can he come?" I hear a scraping of a chair and Yakko comes out. He sees the look on my face and stops in his tracks.

"Wakko, are you ok?" I tell him everything in one breath. Yakko's shaking now too. We start backing away from Normans office. Then, we turn tail and run. We don't stop running until we are out on deck, scanning the ratlines for Dot.

"DOT!!!" Screams Yakko. Dot really does look like a dot from down here. She still has the bandages on her hands and feet, even though her skin is like a rinos hide now. She scurries down like a monkey.

"Yeah…?" I tell her too.

"I'm going to try and find the secret panel." Announces Yakko. Dot rounds on him.

"Excuse me? What happened to laying low?" She gives him a look that would melt lead.

"Ah…thiiiiiiiis….uh…." He gives up. "I'll be careful. I promise." I cant get the thought of Mary out of my head.

"Dots right!" I say. My voice cracks a bit as my throat closes up. Dot leaps at Yakko and wraps him in a huge hug.

"Be careful." I plead. Yakko nods and we all go below.


	15. Chapter 15

Enter: Dot

Wakko and I stayed outside Normans door while Yakko went in.

"We should get Norman out of there, so Yakko can look around!" I whisper to Wakko. He nods and mouths 'how'. I think. What would get Norman out of his office? I smile. "Wakko, remember how he came out of his office when Tom was going to shoot you?"

"I'm not going to get him to point a gun at my head again!" Hisses Wakko

"No, no, no! What if you and I got into a fight? A big one! That would get Norman out of his office!" He grins. We walk a bit down the hall and turn to face each other trying not to laugh. I take in a deep breath.

"**_WAKKO YOU IDIOT!_**"

"**_ME? I'M THE IDIOT?! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DRINKS THE LIQUID CRAP TOULOUSE HANDS OUT!_**"

"**_SHUT UP!_**"

"What is going on out here?!" I hear Norman yell, right on queue. Wakko and I leap at each other. Punching and biting as softly as we can we really do look like we're trying to kill each other. I break free and bolt for the deck, with Wakko hot on my heels.

"Break it up!" Yells Norman. A crowd starts to form around us. I'm still trying not to laugh. I was just about to clamp my teeth down on Wakkos ear when a two huge hands rip us apart. Wakko and I hang from Normans hands like guilty puppies.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Screams Norman. We need to give Yakko as much time as possible…

"The meaning of this, is that my brother Wakko here is the worlds biggest idiot who sucks his thumb when he sleeps." I say in my most refined voice.

"And that Dot is a monster who would kill you as soon as look at you!" Retorts Wakko.

"Enough!" Screams Norman. We've really got him angry. Steaming he carries us down below. My heart skips a beat. If he catches Yakko snooping around…! But instead of taking us to his office, he takes us into the kitchen. Toulouse turns around, surprised.

"Yes Captain?" He asks.

"I caught these two brawling on deck! I think punishment is in order. We'll start with this one," Norman gives Wakko a shake "And since he is in your charge, you and I must talk." Toulouse looks at us bewildered. I smile and Wakko winks. Toulouse give a small nod that I almost miss. Norman puts us in opposite corners and goes to sit at the table. After waiting for just a few moments Wakko and I get up and tiptoe out of the Kitchen.

When we reach Normans office we find Yakko on Normans laptop.

"Find anything?" Asks Wakko

"Yeah. A lot. I'll tell you guys later, right now you've got to help me look for the panel." I nod and go off searching. I look at the globe, the book shelf, and the picture of an old sailing ship but find nothing.

"How about in the closet?" Whispers Wakko. We nod and follow Wakko into the little closet.

"Up there!" I gasp. There, on the ceiling, is a tiny gel button. We just stand there looking at it for a second.

"Quick! Up on my shoulders!" Hisses Yakko. He bends down and Wakko climbs onto his shoulders. Then Wakko reaches down and pulls me on to his. Standing up there I'm almost tall enough to reach the button.

_Click_

The door to Normans closes and I hear Norman sigh. My legs start to shake. And up here, that's not a good thing. _Oh no Oh no oh no oh no!_

I start to go down, and I grab onto a box on a shelf in the top of the closet in a desperate attempt to stay standing. It doesn't work though, the box, me and Wakko come tumbling down.

"NORMAN! I'm not done discussing the menu with you!!!" Roars Toulouse. Just in time. His voice masks the sound of our crash. I come down on Normans shoes. Wakko barely misses coming down on me and instead crashes against the door. Yakko doesn't fall. That is, until the wooden box I grabbed hold of came down on his head with a sickening _crack_. Yakko's eyes roll back up into his head and he collapses. It takes every ounce of will power I have not to cry out. Shoving shoes and an umbrella out of my way I crawl over to him. He isn't moving. Wakko crawls over and pulls Yakko's head into his lap.

"He's breathing and there isn't any blood." Whispers Wakko in my ear. I nod.

"Yakko, wake up!" I whisper and shake him gently by the shoulders. He moans a bit and shifts his head, but nothing else.

"NORMAAAAAN!!!" Yells Toulouse. Norman mutters and swears but I hear his chair scrape back and the door open and close.

"Quick, before he comes back!" I whisper and open the door as quietly as possible. Grunting Wakko lifts Yakko across his shoulders. We manage to sneak to our room in record time despite being on tiptoe and the unconscious Yakko. I close the door behind us and Wakko lays Yakko down on a cot. Wakko lifts Yakko into a sitting position and I shake his shoulders a few times, and this time we get a reaction. Yakko moans again and lift his head to look around.

"Huh…?" He manages to stay sitting on his own, with Wakko supporting his back.

"A box fell on your head and you got knocked out." Says Wakko. Yakko brings a hand to the huge lump forming on his head and winces.

"Figures…" He lays back and closes his eyes. After a second he opens them back up. "Guys, I don't know what we're going to do. Without that gold we'll never be able to get back home." I don't know what to do either.


	16. Chapter 16

Enter: Dot

I've got a plan. I've thought about it a lot, I don't like it, but it's a plan. I sit back in the rigging and take a deep breath. We've got two days till we land, including today. This last week as been hard. Yakko was ok, but all of us have been depressed since that night we found the button. Yakko had found everything out. The gold in Normans room is for a Russian mob member fled to Algeria to settle a debt. But I could care less about that. I've got a plan to get as much gold as a can carry. The only problem _is_ the plan. I cant tell Yakko or Wakko, because they would _never_ let me go through with it and without that gold we have no hope of ever seeing home again. However. When I go through with my plan it will hurt them. Badly. Yakko had said that if anything ever happened to me it would kill him, and I know it would kill Wakko too. I close my eyes. But it will be worth it, because the plan _will _work. I think.


	17. Chapter 17

Enter: Yakko

Today's the day. We land in Algeria in eighteen hours. Despite the horrible cloud of doubt over me that knows we will be on the unforgiving streets of Algeria, I'm kind of exited. I'm sick of this ship, and I'm sick of Norman. We've all been down the past few days. Wakko has barely made a sound and Dots always in deep thought. Actually, she seems apprehensive about something. I've asked her what about a thousand times, and she never says anything. She's almost told me a few times; opening her mouth and then closing it again. Once she even threw her arms around me and didn't say anything for a long time. I hugged her back and after a while she told me she loved me. She's got me worried. Really worried. I keep bugging her about it, but then she blows up at me. I dunno. I'm keeping an eye on her, maybe she's just scared.

Norman's packing up his office, and of course, I'm helping him.

"Hey, where do these go?" I ask holding up a couple of staplers. God forbid he only have one stapler…

"In that box right there." He says. He turns and gets on the intercom.

"Bring Wakko and Dot in here please?" He asks. My ears pick up. Literally, actually. What does he want them for? Wakko comes in first looking about as confused as I feel. Dot comes in a few minuets later, probably because she had to climb down from the ratlines.

"I'll bet your wondering what is going to happen to you, mm? Of course you have! My Russian friend has some use for midgets such as yourselves. You'll be going to work of him. I want you do be good and work hard, if you don't it will be my ass." He gives us a serious look. I look over at Wakko. He looks rather shocked. I Look over at Dot. She's in serious thought again. If fact, she looks kind of scared. She shuts her eyes and when she opens them, she's got a determined look on her face. She looks up at Norman.

"You bastard. You really think I'm going to work for some fatass Russian?" Normans, Wakkos, and I's jaws all drop simultaneously. My heart plunges deep into my stomach. _What the hell is she thinking?!_

"What. Did. You. Say?" Says Norman, his words spat out like poison.

"You know," Says Dot, a sly grin on her face "I don't think this Russian guy is your friend at all. I think that you're a sniveling middle man that works for him! I'll even bet your scared to death of him. That's what you really are, you know. Scared. Your a tight ass British crybaby who's always had his two hundred pound mother to wipe his nose. You couldn't survive without people like your Russian _boss_." I leap at Dot and clamp a hand over her mouth. My heart is going a mile a minuet. _Oh god please don't be mad at her please don't hurt her please please please please…_

"Norman, don't listen to her. She's just scared! Y-you know how it is, right?" I plead. It doesn't look good. Normans face is red and his fists are shaking with rage. Without warning, Dot clamps her teeth down on my hand. Hard. I Yelp and take my hand away before I realize what I've done.

"I meant every word of it you pissass crybaby!" Sneers Dot. Wakko grabs Dot and shoves her behind him, shielding her from the enraged Norman. Sweat runs trickles down over my sides and my skin has gone all clammy. _Oh god he's going to kill her!_

Norman stands up and looks at Dot.

"Have I ever told you I had a daughter?" My heart starts hammering so hard it hurts. No! This isn't happening! Oh my god this isn't happening!

"She wasn't half as bad as you are," Continues Norman "But I think I'm going to give you the same punishment as she got. Isn't that kind of me?"

"NO!" I leap at Norman. I get him a good punch in the side of his head and he goes cross eyed for a moment before pinning me down on the desk.

"Your lucky I've already promised more than one worker to my friend or you would be joining your sister…" He growls. Wakko has Dot around the waist and is making a break for the door.

"TOM!" Screams Norman. Wakko opens the door and runs straight into Tom, who's looking delighted to see some action.

"Take the little one and throw her in the old brig! Throw the other two in their room and make sure they don't get out! Then come back, I want to talk to you." Orders Norman. He picks me up and throws me at Tom who catches me around the waist. I punch and kick and curse but it doesn't do any good. Soon he has all three of us under his arms.

"Dot what were you thinking?! What the fuck were you thinking?!" Screams Wakko. Dot doesn't say a word. She still looks determined. If she was going to answer she doesn't get the chance because Tom has carried us to a small room with bars. It looks like an old jail cell. He tosses Dot in and takes Wakko and I to our room, tossing us in as well. In a blind furry and take hold of one of the cots and bring it down on the door as hard as I can. _No! no no no no no no no !_ I beat the door with my fists. It takes me a moment to realize I'm crying. I sink down onto the floor and sob. It feels like someone has plunged a knife into my chest and is turning it around and around and around. This just cant be happening…not here. Not to Dot. My entire body bucks as I choke out more sobs. I'm screaming too, but I don't know exactly what. After a while I stop and just curl up and cry. My entire body feels numb. I hear Wakko gagging in the corner and notice the room has a revolting sour smell to it. I don't care. I don't care about anything right now.

After a while, Wakko comes over and lays with me, his shirt stained with his breakfast. An hour goes by. And then another. Five hours in all. After those five hours the door is opened and gets Wakko square in the back, because were both laying against it. I don't recognize the crew member who reaches down and helps us up with a sympathetic look in his eye. He only has one.

He leads us both out to the deck. I don't even have to look to know what's there. A noose is hanging from the mast, directly over a chair. Dot is standing by Norman, her hands tied behind her back with rope. She still has a determined look to her face. The crew is gathered around, and Norman is talking, but I don't hear him. But I notice when he's done talking. He turns to Dot and shoves her in the direction of the chair.


	18. Chapter 18

Enter: Toulouse

I said I would kill Norman if he ever tried to hurt Wakko or his siblings. And I will. But I cant now. I cant save her.

Norman shoves Dot in the direction of the chair, and she climbs onto it without a word. _Why doesn't she run?_ I wonder. Slowly, as if relishing the moment, which he probably is, Normans loops the noose over her neck and pulls it tight. I look over at her brothers. Wakkos shirt is stained with vomit, and he is shaking. His eyes are wide as saucers. I wont ever forget the look on Yakkos face. His eyes are squinted almost shut, his chest is heaving and tears are rolling down his face. His mouth is pulled into a grimace. He shakes his head slowly, back and forth.

"Any last words?" Asks Norman. He's smiling. Dot doesn't move. Norman frowns. I think he wants her to beg for mercy. To cry and scream and shake. But she doesn't. She looks straight ahead at nothing and doesn't move a muscle, in her body or her expressionless face. "So be it." Growls Norman. He kicks the chair over. Her weight isn't enough to break her neck. All Dots unmoving composure goes out the window.

My stomach churns as she writhes and twists, trying to scream but not making a sound. Her hands go to her neck desperately clawing at the rope that's crushing her wind pipe and gullet. She kicks at the nothing beneath her as if hoping, by some miracle, she can kick herself free. Her mouth is open in a silent scream and her eyes are squeezed shut. And it goes on. For a minuet at least she screams her silent scream and flails at the end of the noose. The world seems to reverberate with the sound of her mute scream. I look at her face and know that even if her voice box wasn't crushed her scream could never be expressed with mere sound.

Then, she stops kicking as hard. The hands clawing at her throat gradually grow limp, as does her face, and the invisible sound of her scream dies off into the distance. All that can be heard as the creak of the rope as she swings gently back and forth, the momentum of her struggle still dying away.

The crew is silent. Normans boots sound like thunder claps as he walks over and cuts the rope. There is a sickening _thud_ as Dots body hits the ground. Norman picks it up in his hand. I don't know weather it was out of some sort of kindness, or pure monstrosity, but he walks over and offers the body to Wakko. Wakko doesn't move. He doesn't even look at his sisters limp form. His eyes are still bulging at the spot where she died. Norman turns and offers the body to Yakko. Yakko looks nearly the same as his brother. He hesitates, then slowly reaches out his hands and takes his sister from Norman.

He stands there for a moment, holding Dot's body in his outstretched hands. Then, he brings her in close. He stumbles backwards, hits the wall behind him, and slides down. He cradles Dot's body in his arms and sobs. His chest bucks and I know the sounds he's making are pulled from the pit of his soul. His very being. He buries his face into her and screams. Screams and sobs. Dots tiny form is almost lost in his, curled around her. The entire crew, even Liz, looks away. I know I should too. But I cant. I want to so badly. I want to turn away from Yakko, cradling his sister body, and Wakko still unmoving, eyes bulging at the spot were she died. I want to cover my ears and ignore Yakkos screams and guttural choking sobs. But they are the only sounds to be heard on deck. On the ship. In the world. Right now, they rain down on my ears and I cant imagine how much sadness, grief, and rage one can contain. I realize Norman hasn't looked away either. When he realizes Yakko isn't going to subside any time soon, he kneels down and very gently takes the body out of Yakkos arms. Yakko barely acknowledges it. Still leaning his back up against the wall he pulls his knees to his chest and sobs. I walk over to Wakko and put a hand on his shoulder. He still doesn't move. I look at the horizon and see a dark smudge. Land.

I kneel down and look in Wakkos face. He's like a zombie. I'm not sure what to do. I pick him up. He's almost stiff, but relaxes a little. Then I walk over and pick Yakko up as well. I carry them both down below and into my room. I set them both on the bed and walk out. I sit at the dinning room table and try to push the sight of Dot thrashing, Yakko crying, and Wakkos zombie face out of my mind. I let one tear slip out of my eye. Then another. And another.


	19. Chapter 19

Authors Note: Pft. You really think I would kill her: )

Enter: Dot

There's a sound. It takes me a moment to realize it's the sound of air. I'm breathing. In and out. In and out…Feeling starts coming back to my limbs. I can feel wood underneath my hands. _What's going on?_ My neck hurts. I take a deep breath and another. Then, using what little strength I have, I roll over and sit up. Most of me is still numb. I open my eyes and all I see are stars. Then, a room swims into view. My neck burns, and hurts but I ignore it. I look around. There's piles and piles of gold. The sight of it raises a red flag.

_Plan_

_Something about a plan_

_Algeria_

_Need the gold_

_Shanghaied_

Slowly, it trickles back into my mind. I grin. _It worked!_


	20. Chapter 20

Authors Note:

First off, thanks so much for all your reviews! blush I forgot about the ropes, I'll go back and fix that, heheh. There where a couple reasons I had Toulouse narrate the hanging. I wanted to convey everything that was going on, including Yakko and Wakkos expressions. Another is that I don't really think I could really get the detail I wanted if I had either of the brothers narrate. Wakko was more or less in shock. He probably wouldn't have picked up anything other than the hanging. Yakko was actually who I planned on narrating the hanging but I really don't think I could convey the intensity of what he was feeling, and I don't think he would have picked up as many details either. I couldn't have Dot narrate, so I decided on Toulouse. Don't worry, all your questions about how she survived will be answered in this chapter (I hope)!

Enter: Dot

I sit back and wait for the feeling to come back to my limbs. My heart is beating fast, I'm so relieved. I hadn't been entirely sure it would.

Ever since I had heard about Mary and how she survived, and how her body might be stored with the gold, I had wondered if the same could work for me. So I started to plan. My neck wouldn't be broken, I hoped. Than means that I would I would be suffocated. But. If I was hung a little while before we landed in Algeria, everyone would be rushing around getting the ship ready. I don't think they would keep me hanging at the end of the rope while all that was happening. They would cut me down just a little bit after I lost consciousness. Norman would store me in the room with the gold.

I can feel my arms and legs now. Stumbling just a little bit, I stand up. My vision goes dark and I feel light headed for a second, but I don't fall back down. I reach my arms above my head and stretch. I feel a bit better for it. Then I bring a hand to my neck. Its raw where the rope was, but not bleeding. Its probably going to be one big bruise ring though. I frown. The right side of my neck is wet. Its not blood, what is it? Tears. It takes me a moment to realize its _tears_. I feel likes someone has punched me in the gut. Wakko and Yakko. Oh god, Wakko and Yakko. Maybe the noticed I was breathing. Was I breathing? I don't know. But this was the only way to get the gold. It was the only way to save all three of us! I shake my head and immediately wish I hadn't because it makes my neck hurt real bad. I take a look around the room.

Its small and ever inch of it is piled with gold discs. Their not coins, just polished discs of gold. I see something that makes my legs go weak. Every inch except for a tiny spot on the corner. That tiny spot is about four feet long, two feet wide, and made of dark mahogany. A child sized coffin for Mary. It takes me a moment to realize that I'm walking towards it. My body doesn't seem to be under my control. In horror I watch as I lift the lid and peer inside.

She's pretty, really. You can tell she's Normans daughter. Her hair is chestnut brown and she has big eyes that are closed in a permanent sleep. Her skin is stretched over her bones just a little, and it looks a bit gray. Otherwise you couldn't even tell that she was dead. For some odd reason, I feel better. I even smile.

_Thank you_ I think to her. _I don't know if you know, but my brothers and I are saved because of you. You've given us a lot of hope. We couldn't have done it without you._

I close the lid and let her go back to her never ending sleep. My pockets are pretty deep, and I start shoveling gold discs into them. But then I notice a burlap sack, and empty my pockets into it. I cant have all the gold jingling around and making a bunch of noise when I walk. I fill the back to the brim and look around. There are two doors. One of them is to my left, and I'm pretty sure it leads to Normans office. I imagine myself walking out of Normans closet with a bag of gold over my shoulder. Man would he freak! It takes all my will power not to laugh at the idea. But the door on the right…

I walk over and give it a push. It swings right open without a sound to reveal a small, dark passageway. Mustering up my courage, I step into it and close the door behind me. The entire place goes dark. I feel my way along for nearly half an our before I come to what feels like another door. I push, but its stuck. I back up a bit and throw my weight against it. I stumble into a familiar room. The powder room! I look back at where I came. The door is built into the side of the room, without a handle. I close it and it blends in seamlessly with the wall. My heart quickens. Yakko and Wakko are probably just a few feet above my head. I stack up the bags of powder and peer through the knothole in the ceiling.

Yakko is sitting on a cot. His elbows are resting on his knees and he's looking straight down at the floor. His face startles me. He looks so much older than he is. It looks haggard and his eyes are bloodshot. I twist around, looking for Wakko, and see him in the corner. He's shaking. He stares straight ahead at nothing and shakes. His shirt is all stained. For a second, I don't know what to do. I cant just crawl up out of the floor. But what else can I do? I pause. Then, I pull the board down and push the gold through. I haul myself through after it.

Yakko and Wakko both look at me with expressionless faces. I don't know what to do except just stand there. I try to say 'I'm sorry' but it's the first time I've tried to talk since being hung. I choke out a raspy 'I' and then gag and cough. It feels like something is caught in my throat. Like a marble or something that wont let me talk. It wont even let me cough right. I look up and see Yakko standing over me with an astonished look. Without warning, he pulls back a hand and slaps me across the face hard enough to knock me off my feet.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" He screams. His face is contorted with rage and is not unlike Normans face when I was teasing him. He pulls back his hand again, but his expression goes from enraged back to astonished, sad and disbelieving. He sinks down to the ground and sits. He shakes his head and chokes in a rattling breath. His tears fall to the floor. "What were you thinking…" He whispers. I feel Wakko pull me backwards into his lap. He curls himself around me and strokes my hair.

"Its alright Dot. I forgive you." He says. He rocks slowly, back and forth, and I let all my fears go. _What had I been thinking? I could have died! And when Normans put that awful thing around my neck…_I burry my face in him and cry. It hurts to make any sort of noise, but I don't care. After a bit I hear Yakko get up and the door open and shut.


	21. Chapter 21

Enter: Yakko

I shut the door behind me. My legs feel like jelly, so does my stomach. _She's alive!_ I don't know weather to hug her, slap her, throw up, or break down again. I shake my head. _Holy shit she's alive…_ I take a step and my legs nearly give out. Stumbling with my arms stretched out I make my way to the kitchen. I open the door to find Toulouse packing up his pots and pans. He's been a great guy. He took us to his room after Dot 'died' and let us cry it out. Actually, let me cry it out. Wakko hadn't made a sound until Dot had crawled up out of the floor. After a while I had picked Wakko up and gone back to our room.

He turns around.

"Hey Yakko." His eyes are red. "N-Norman wont get away with this. D-don't worry. Are you ok? Yakko I'm so sorry." I open my mouth to tell him, but nothing comes out. I close my mouth, open, and try again. Still nothing. For once in my life I'm actually speechless. I close my eyes, shake my head, and motion for him to follow me.

I lead him to our room. Wakko is still holding Dot, but she isn't crying anymore. Wakkos eyes are closed and he looks almost asleep. I look over at Toulouse. His jaw hangs open in an almost comical gesture. He shakes his head and walks over to Dot. Without a word he takes her out of Wakkos arms and sets her down on a cot, lifting her chin with his finger he takes a look at her neck. Its raw and bruised, but it could be worse. A lot worse. _She's alive!_

"I'll be back in a second." Says Toulouse. I turn to Dot.

"Dot, I'm sorry I hit you. I really am, I just…Dot you were dead. You were dead, I watched you die! I'm glad your alive, I really am. Just don't ever scare me like that again. I mean, what were you thinking doing that?" I pull her in and hold her.

"I was thinking about both of you." She says. Her voice is weak and rasping. I wonder if her voice box hadn't been crushed. "I was thinking that if this worked all of us would be saved. And that if it didn't, I don't know what would happen to you two. Yakko, I was so scared! All the time I kept thinking that it might not work!" She starts to cry again.

Crap, I hadn't even stopped to think what this was like for her! Toulouse comes back in with some bandages and a glass of water. I put Dot down and think.

"Toulouse, how long until we land?" I ask. Toulouse is trying to get some water down Dot, but she's choking on it. He thumps her on the back.

"In two hours." Dot finally gets the water down.

"I've gotten as much gold as I could fit in the sack!" Pipes Dot. She sounds a lot better, though her voice still rasps a bit. I look at the sack for the first time since I saw it emerge from the floor. Its filled to the brim with gold! Enough to get us home for sure!

"But how are we going to get off the ship before it explodes?" Asks Wakko.

"Don't worry," Says Toulouse. "I know away."


	22. Chapter 22

Enter: Wakko

Were in a crate again. Its hard to believe that just over two weeks ago we were in a crate safe in Plotzs car. Now we are in a crate in Toulouses arms bouncing a bit as he carries us 'kitchen supplies' down the gang plank. Dot's ok. Toulouse said her voice box was crushed, but it would heal with time, though her voice might rasp a bit more than usual. Yakko is holding the bag of gold. I cant believe it, we're going home! I grin in the darkness.

"Toulouse? What are you doing?" Says a muffled voice. Its Norman. I feel Dot flinch beside me and I put my arm around her.

"Unloading kitchens supplies, Captain. I thought I would make something for you and your Russian friend to talk over."

"And the two kids?"

"Still in their room."

"We'll unload the body of the girl later tonight."

"Right sir."

"Take those supplies to the spot."

"Yes sir."

"And Toulouse?"

"Yes?"

"Its _captain_ not _sir_, got it?"

"Yes Captain."

I see Yakko cover his mouth to keep himself from laughing. I roll my eyes. _That guy will laugh at anything…_ There's a full hour of jostling around before the lid is lifted off our crate. We crawl out into the African heat. Were in a dust ally. I can hear the hustle and bustle of a busy market place all around us. There's two guys arguing, a baby crying, dogs barking…

"Thanks Toulouse. You've been a real pal." Says Yakko. Dot throws her arms around him, and I tackle him to the ground.

"Yeah, I'll miss you!" I say. And its true. He's been our only-

**_BOOM!_**

****From far off an explosion shakes the ground. We look to the west and sure enough a plume of smoke starts to rise from behind the houses and shops. The docks must be a long way off. After a moments Toulouse gives us all a huge hug.

"I've got to go now. See you kids." And he walks off. My heart sinks. I'll miss him. We watch him until we cant see him any more, then Yakko turns to us.

"Alright. Lets find a pilot. I don't think he cares how old we are, once he sees this gold." We start off.


	23. Chapter 23

The End

(Well, sorta…)

That's it for Shanghaied. Thanks for all your wonderful reviews! I hope you liked it. And yes, of course, I'm going to continue in a sequel. I'm not sure what its going to be called yet, and I've still got to think of a basic plot line before I start construction on it. I might get the first chapter up tonight, but I might not. Goodbye and thanks for all the fish!


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